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Science 8 September 1989:
Vol. 245. no. 4922, pp. 1090 - 1092
DOI: 10.1126/science.245.4922.1090
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Articles

Origin of Ancient Potash Evaporites: Clues from the Modem Nonmarine Qaidam Basin of Western China

TIM K. LOWENSTEIN 1, RONALD J. SPENCER 2, and ZHANG PENGXI 3

1 Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13901.
2 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4 Canada.
3 Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Academia Sinica, Xining, Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China.

Modern potash salt deposits and associated brines of the Qaidam Basin, western China, demonstrate that some anomalous marine evaporites may have formed from nonmarine brines instead of seawater. Qaidam Basin brines are derived from meteoric river inflow mixed with small amounts of CaCl spring inflow similar in composition to many saline formation waters and hydrothermal brines. Evaporation of springenriched inflow yields a predicted mineral sequence including carnallite, bischofite, and tachyhydrite that is identical to several anomalous marine evaporites. Other mixtures of river and spring inflow produce the salt assemblage expected from evaporation of seawater.

Submitted on April 6, 1989
Accepted on July 13, 1989


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